Islander squads achieve rare feats

HOUSTON - The Islanders men’s tennis team won the Southland Conference regular season championship despite playing with less than half the scholarships of the other teams and the women secured their highest seed in the conference tournament in school history and will make the tourney for a second consecutive year.

“Guts and character, a lot of both, that’s what I have to say about our tennis teams,” said coach Steve Moore. “We won this before but never has it been with such tough odds and so much adversity.

“This team is like one big family, the girls pulled the guys through and the guys pulled the girls through, I can tell you this group is pretty jazzed right now.”

The men’s tennis team pulled off one of the greatest feats in college sports this year, winning the Southland Conference championship with just 2.04 scholarships, less than half than their competition and while redshirting their top two players.

“No matter what we won in the past or win in the future, what these guys did was simply incredible,” said Moore. “I don’t think I can begin to describe how focused you have to be and how much you have to absolutely max out in every aspect to win a conference playing with less than half the scholarships of your competition.

“That is what these guys faced and they rose up and did it. To me this team is like a microcosm of the entire university, they faced adversity and rose up big time.”

If the Islanders were eligible for the conference tournament, they would go in as the No. 1 seed after finishing 4-1 in the conference and winning head-to-head against UTSA. They are ineligible for both the Southland Conference and NCAA tournaments due to violations that occurred before any coach or current player arrived at the university.

The women’s team that boasts three freshmen and one sophomore in their top six players had the best season in school history and enter the Southland Tournament with the highest seed in the program’s history.

The men’s team won 4-1 over the Cardinals and the women’s team used a 5-1 victory over the Southeastern Louisiana Lady Lions to secure the No. 6 seed in next weekend’s Southland Conference Tournament. The Islanders faced the Lady Lions knowing that the winner would get the 6th seed and the winner would get the 8th seed. The tournament will be held at the H-E-B Tennis Center starting at 9:30 p.m. Friday.